Chapter 11 Zayn #2
Okay, maybe it had something to do with me running my leg up his thigh during breakfast and getting him going.
Yes, it was what had caused that spillage in the first place.
And Evira had been on my other side, so I’d done it to her, too.
Although, she’d set me straight by grabbing my cock in a vicious grip.
I mean, I could take it and she knew I liked it a little fierce, but not at breakfast or right before classes.
That was the point they’d been making to me—there was a time and a place for their little hellion to strike.
Vax had escaped my sweet torment because he’d been sitting across from me texting his parents during the time I’d started all that.
A big shadow fell over us, making Vax’s gaze leave mine and flick to my side. I swung my head to see the HICI Educator support for this class, Carnis Parlant, the Water Dragon-Sorcerer suddenly right there.
“While I’m all for flirting games here and there, if you can’t keep your focus through it, save it for after class,” he rumbled, his spiky golden hair glinting under the light and all the black marble surrounding the space.
The guy was super down to earth always wearing ripped jeans and a tank that he looked like he was gonna bust out of any minute with all the broad, ripped muscle.
Fuck me, I was worked up.
I blinked. “Sure thing.”
“Understood,” Vax said, but his eyes darkened a little.
Yeah, he didn’t exactly like being challenged, let alone reprimanded.
Although, making it obvious like this wasn’t really his thing either.
Maybe whatever had been said during his text exchange with his parents had gotten to him and now having another authority figure coming at him was proving more irritating than it normally would be.
My gaze darted around the class.
He’d let himself become so immersed in me and not the actual lesson activity at hand—again, not normal for him—that he hadn’t even realized that things had moved on while we’d been doing that.
I saw Evira and Winter battling carefully with their magic now.
Octana Reyolde was working with Christalyn. Octana was creating an animated storm cloud that was being attacked strategically by Christalyn’s magic in flash lightning form.
And one desk in front of mine and Vax’s, River Leroux and Guriel Arlux—a Werewolf–Dark Fae—were battling with swirling mini-vortexes.
Guriel was growling as River was winning with not just power, but some cool ingenuity.
He was even kicking ass while still able to exchange what he thought were discreet flirty looks with his secret girlfriend, Octana.
“Everyone’s on the next exercise,” I whispered to Vax, trying to tell him that Carnis had a good reason for coming over.
Although, whispering, I realized, wasn’t doing much good, because Carnis had dragon hearing.
“Aww, a royal heir no longer with a crown? Too bad, so sad, huh?”
We all stiffened at that.
The voice was also way too familiar—because of how disgusting it was to hear. Anything coming out of that motherfucker’s mouth.
Keuric Glastor.
I looked around Carnis, and the first thing I noticed was that massive belt buckle.
I hated that it was the first thing I saw, but for once it wasn’t on me where that sort of thing was concerned.
One, because I hated the shithead. And two because, he made it that big and glinting with magic on purpose, to literally draw the eye there.
As soon as I registered it, though, my gaze bounced to his wild blue hair, and that overly big black furry coat that was always open to reveal his naked chest. Why even wear it at all, then?
The asshole thought he was all irresistible and charismatic, but he wasn’t.
That was me. It had been my role here going on four years now.
The thing that really riled me up about him, though, was what he’d done to Evira.
Something that I’d thought had been settled when she’d punished him for it by beating him down dragon-style. But I guess her abdicating had him thinking she had less power now and that she was vulnerable.
The fuck she was.
In fact, her actually doing that had shown big-time courage.
He touched her shoulder.
Her left shoulder.
Where her Crown Heir dragon marking had been. Unlike the others that covered her skin, that was gone now.
Something Win and I had found out about the morning after our race.
We’d had to quell our reactions because of a look we’d gotten from Vax.
But right after we’d left Evira’s suite to go to classes—Vax and Evira headed one way, Win and me another—Win had dragged me into an empty classroom, and we’d had a fuck-and-feed, kind of taking out our upset about it that way.
But as Keuric brought that to the forefront now—something we were still trying to make peace with—I saw Win’s side of the magical battle over the desk snuff out.
And then he shot to his feet, amber power blazing from his palms.
No.
No. No. No.
The professor swept down the gangway, calling his power and forming what looked like a shield that I guess he intended to protect the class with.
I went to jump to my feet as well, but Vax snagged my wrist and shook his head at me. “It has to be her.”
Carnis nodded in agreement. “This is dragon business, dragon nature. Intervention on her behalf will make her look weak, which will do the opposite of resolving this dispute.”
“What the—seriously? Even in the middle of class?”
“Yes,” he and Vax responded in unison, and I saw their gazes meld with animal understanding.
“Stay your hand,” Professor Dryvan’s voice rang out.
Not at Evira.
Not at Keuric.
But at Winter.
Only half the class was aware of what was going on, thankfully a lot of students immersed in their battle exercises that were pretty intensive.
But I saw Christalyn ready herself.
The professor noticed and shook his head at her.
Yeah, if she assisted on behalf of Winter, we were talking extreme high-level power blasting through the classroom on all sides.
Also, Win could not fucking do this.
He normally wouldn’t go on the offensive. Ever. His form of protection was to shield the victim, not to attack.
Holy. Fuck.
What was even happening right now?
Evira grasped his arm and looked up at him, saying something I couldn’t hear from where I was.
He resisted, but then sat back down and snuffed his power out. His eyes drilled into Keuric, his body vibrating with rage.
“Mark of shame, yeah?” Keuric went on at Evira, getting off on the disturbance he’d caused, and inciting Winter in the process.
“Shame?” she spoke, coolly. “Is that your ignorant interpretation?”
“What else is there? You can try to play it any way you want, but—”
“Sometimes telling people the way things should be, telling them you see a better way, isn’t enough. Especially when it comes to dragonkind and its inherent stubbornness.” She eyed Carnis. “No offense. You know you stand apart.”
“Absolutely, Your Highness,” he responded with a lift of his lips.
She gave him a chin lift, then rose to her feet, looking up at Keuric steadily.
“I made a stand. We live the way the world should be, to demonstrate what it has the means to become. Change occurs through setting examples of what is right, what is courageous when that’s buried beneath fear and misunderstanding.
” She slapped her own shoulder. “That’s what this signifies.
How dare you come at me like this, thinking you had any right to, thinking you could?
” An animalistic growl rumbled from her. “You fucking fool of a dragon bitch.”
Keuric lashed out.
But she was faster.
She batted his offending hand away and I heard a nasty snap just as he yelped.
Then she fisted her hand in his hair and smashed his face down on her desk.
With a kick right on that stupid-ass belt, he doubled over and hit the gangway between desks on his ass, cradling himself and whimpering.
“Glad we cleared that up,” she said, as she sat back down, and swept a glowing hand over the desk to clear away the blood from where she’d crushed his face.
Through it all, her magic from the exercise was still levitating stably.
Hot damn.
Carnis moved in and hoisted Keuric back to his feet, then led him out of class where I heard him talking about sending him to the Therapy Zone for Coexistence Management. Again. The way it was going, he was gonna be spending more time there than in actual classes.
I saw Vax staring out at Winter with some deep worry.
And he wasn’t the only one. Professor Dryvan looked concerned, too.
“Vax…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll reframe the narrative with the professor once class lets out, lean in to Winter’s protective instincts coming to the surface in defense of Evira. Nothing more than that.”
Relief sang through me.
Of course he would.
Of course it would be okay.
It always would be now that it was the four of us.
Just… Win’s feeding changes… what I’d just seen… was that a part of the same thing?
Vax’s hand clasping mine on the desk had me pulling from my thoughts.
He was smiling out at me, so much reassurance shining through. “Your cooking theater tonight will be an excellent stress reliever. I’m looking forward to it, Zayn. Focus on that, yes?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it will be. It’ll be really good.”
“Precisely.” He gave my hand a squeeze. “Now, let’s finally get to the next exercise, shall we?”
I smiled. “Sounds good.”
I’d arrived here ahead of the others so I could set up everything perfectly.
Vaxan had an actual call scheduled with his parents to see to, not just texts this time. I was doing my best to quell my worry about what that could mean. Hadn’t the check-ins he’d already done been enough?
Win was practicing his Undead Domination magic on two vampire friends of Evira’s who loved that shit from him. It was Win doing some last-minute practice before his training with his dad began hardcore really soon.